Orion’s aids disaster victims

By John Hageman – Staff Writer, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Nov 18, 2011, 5:00am CSTUpdatedNov 17, 2011, 6:41pm CST

In the months following Hurricane Katrina, Rebecca Hage Thomley visited with residents of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, where some of the storm’s worst damage occurred.

Even when she arrived as a volunteer for the American Red Cross in late 2005, two months after the storm hit, food and water were hard to come by.

“After my time assigned there with the Red Cross, you could see that there was a complete system breakdown, and no services were coming in,” Hage Thomley said.

She later returned to Louisiana, but with more help.

Hage Thomley’s company, Orion Associates, began bringing teams of volunteers to assist New Orleans’ residents. The grassroots movement eventually became the Headwaters Relief Organization, a nonprofit that provides assistance to disaster victims. Orion operates and funds the organization with its own resources and donations.

Today, Orion employees continue to volunteer in New Orleans, providing emotional support and triage work for residents. Much of the work they’ve done involves helping people find where to get prescriptions filled and food, Hage Thomley said.

In the years since, volunteers from the Golden Valley-based management-consulting firm have gone to disaster areas in North Dakota, North Minneapolis, Southern Minnesota and Haiti. In each location, Headwaters has taken on different tasks. In Haiti, volunteers have focused on supporting children in orphanages. In Minot, N.D., they helped with cleanup after the Souris River flood forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

As a firm whose clients are typically companies that provide services to people with disabilities, charitable work is a part of Orion’s makeup, Hage Thomley said.

The company provides paid time off for its employees to participate in Headwaters’ activities and for volunteering at other organizations of their choice, Hage Thomley said. More than 90 percent of Orion’s employees do volunteer work, and since 2005, the company’s contributions to charitable efforts have averaged 28 percent of its corporate profits.

“[Volunteering] is core to who we are as an organization,” said Stephen Hage, Orion’s chief administrative officer.

Some of the company’s clients also have joined with Orion on volunteer trips.

Dan Leitner, Hage Thomley’s personal accountant, rallied some of his contacts in the construction industry to go to New Orleans to help Headwaters. Over the course of a few months, the crews were able to help rebuild the home of an elderly couple, Leitner said.

Helping repair homes for those who wouldn’t otherwise have the resources was a rewarding experience, he added.

Leitner has known Hage Thomley since she was a graduate student pursuing her doctorate in psychology almost 25 years ago. She’s always been involved in charitable endeavors, he said. “She has a heart of gold.”

Hage Thomley returns to New Orleans about once a month. And even when Headwaters’ volunteers are in Minneapolis, they’re able to provide emotional support through teleconferencing. She hopes that by providing support to vulnerable communities, they will become stronger.

“Our focus as an organization is on community, and creating support in the community through our volunteerism,” Hage Thomley said.

jhageman@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2109

Jefferson Awards Winner: Orion Associates

Philanthropy Highlights:Orion is a member of Minnesota Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, which works with government entities to provide support during disasters. Orion employees collected clothing, toys and computer equipment for Haitian orphanages. In addition, the company supplied all of the textbooks for a Haitian school.The company pays employees for time off to volunteer at charities of their choosing, such as the Polar Bear Plunge, Special Olympics, Toys for Tots, the MS Walk and the Humane Society Walk.

By John Hageman – Staff Writer, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal